Group Says There Is Room To Raise Taxes To Support Children

Connecticut Voices for Children released a report Tuesday advocating targeted tax and fee hikes to raise revenue for greater levels of state spending on young people.

The report comes days after the left-leaning think tank released another study concluding that Connecticut has reduced its total spending on children and families by about $1.8 billion over the past two decades.

In Tuesday’s report, the group’s fiscal policy analysts surmise that the state’s spending rates have been comparatively low for years and that its tax rates — excluding property taxes — also are relatively low.

“The analysis by the Fiscal Policy Center at Connecticut Voices for Children finds that residents of many wealthy towns enjoy property tax rates that are a fraction of those in neighboring cities and that Connecticut has the lowest charges and fees of any state,” a press release on the report read.

The report suggests increasing certain fees, as well as property taxes in wealthy towns to support spending on children.

(2) Comments

posted by: ASTANVET | February 5, 2014 4:57pm

hmmmm… crazy idea, but how about the families of these children use their money to support them. If the CT Voices for Children wants to donate 100% of their money to children… great.. but keep your hands off my wallet, my effective tax rate in CT is already over 50%... so… no thanks.

posted by: bgenerous | February 7, 2014 10:21am

Looking at property tax rates or equalized property tax rates alone does not provide an adequate picture as far as tax burden. One needs to look at the property taxes paid as a percent of income. Most cities in CT by that measure would have among the highest median tax burdens for home owners. However, wealthy towns can also have high median tax burdens relative to other towns. With 1 being the lowest tax burden, here is how some wealthier towns ranked for singe family home owners median property taxes as a percent of income in 2008: Greenwich (104), Redding (158), Ridgefield (145), Weston (143), and Westport (144). While, those with very high incomes generally enjoy lower property tax burdens, it doesn’t mean the typical homeowner in a town considered wealthy has a low property tax burden.